13 Nov Holiday Survival: The 12 Week Tip Guide You Didn’t Know You Needed
Just as people tend to lose sight of their fitness goals during the summer, people tend to have a more casual approach to their fitness and their diet during the holiday season. Often times trainers will hear things like, “It’s the holiday season, you’re meant to indulge a little” or “I’ll re-dedicate to my diet as a new year’s resolution.”
The truth is it is fine to indulge once in a while, but the rest of the time you need to be focused on your fitness. As for new year’s resolutions, most people who resolve to engage in more fitness at a later date never actually end up doing that. So, you have people who are over-indulging and not working out to balance out all that high sugar and high fat foods.
What can you do to not fall victim to this cycle? Well, that’s what this 12 week tip guide is going to do – set you up for success and teach you easy things you can do at home during the busy holiday season to maximize your seasonal fun while keeping in touch with your fitness goals.
1 – Don’t Worry About It
Go to the happy hours, the potlucks, the family gatherings, and enjoy yourself because it’s the holidays; it comes with its own color scheme and its own theme music. How can you not be festive this time of the year? It’s 2-3 weeks of the year and if you eat well and do your training the rest of the year, then these 2 or 3 weeks will not be a make or break on all that work. A couple of pounds should not be the make or break of your overall fitness goals, and the other 11 and a half months that you’re putting in the work by eating well and doing your workout should not be derailed over a couple of pounds. If you really want to stay as level as possible, then set a better goal! Let go of perfect and enjoy yourself.
2 – The Rule Of 3
3 pounds is the average most people fluctuate for their weight over the course of a week. It could be bloating, PMS, hormones, or food we’ve eaten. Even if you’re the most dedicated person to your diet or workout routine, you probably have some degree of weight fluctuation. So, don’t sweat a little weight gain. It’s normal. Enjoy the holiday, enjoy some luxurious, decedent, and fattening foods, then, when January 2nd hits, get back to your plan and recommit to your goals.
3 – Put The Work In Now
Start putting in the work now with your exercise and eating cleaner so that your body can process those higher sugar and higher fat foods more efficiently and not leave you feeling sick or bloated. It’ll also prepare you for when you get back to your normal diet and workout routine that it won’t be as difficult. You’ve worked hard for 11 and a half months of the year and taking a couple of days to enjoy yourself will help you better appreciate all the work you’ve done.
4 – Stay Hydrated
At Quest Fitness we preach the benefits of water, and during the holidays is no exception. Keeping yourself thoroughly hydrated will not only help you stay fuller longer, so that means reducing the amount of food you eat, but it also means your body will able to flush all those sugary treat more easily and leave you feeling less bloated .
5 – Smarter Eating
We’re clearly not staying to stay away from all of the best foods during your holiday season, but there is a way to help yourself eat less of them so you’re more able to stick with your fitness goals. One way is to avoid liquid calories. People know sodas have calories but often forget that juices, coffee, tea, beer, and wine all have calories, and a lot more calories than people would guess. Another way is to set a good foundation to be successful is to stagger your eating by starting a party or even with a sample of vegetable from the veggie tray. After you mingle and munch, help yourself to some of the more savory or sweet foods. If you’re still hungry and go back, stagger that eating pattern with another trip to the veggie tray. The fibrous vegetables help you stay fuller long and take up more room in your stomach to help limit your ability to eat more of the calorie rich foods. If all else fails, avoid socializing around the food tables.
6 – Be Flexible
The holidays are more chaotic and less structured than normal, and being successful means being flexible enough to lace up your shoes and hit the gym when the opportunity presents itself. Maybe this means you go twice the week before the holiday, or you are up earlier to be at the gym, or arrive later to a party. This whole survival guide is an attempt to be flexible, but understanding that you can exercise anytime and incorporate short, unplanned moments of exercise is a great way to stay on track with your goal and help keep your weight in check.
7 – Exercise Anytime
During the holiday we’re often in a hustle from one party or another while hugging and kissing family members we haven’t seen in 12 months, so we’re often missing workouts. That’s ok! You can get exercise anytime! Even 5 minutes of activity is better than nothing at all. Here’s a few exercises you do quickly between events or even subtly at events:
– Jumping jacks – it’s a great way to get your heart rate up, they’re quick, and they don’t require a lot of space to do.
– Push-ups (normal or elevated) – perfect if you’re leaning against a table or a counter and need to get a few rep in.
– Squats – a simple body weight squat is great to help you strengthen and build muscles in your legs, hips, and butt.
8 – Sleep
Too often during the holidays we forgo precious sleep so we can keep up with work, daily life responsibilities, and all of the parties and holiday activities that come with this time of year. Sleep is a key factor in the function of your metabolism and immune systems, so not getting the necessary required sleep for your body can lead to weight gain, illness, and other health concerns like depression and anxiety. The act of sleeping allows the body to rest and repair any damage that might have happened during workouts, gives the immune system the chance to fight off infections, and helps the mind purge stress built up over the day. All of this helps us feel refreshed, helps with better concentration to stay focused, energizes us for work outs, and helps keep our metabolism healthy to assist in any weight management goals you might have. You can read our whole blog on the benefits of sleep here:
www.questfitnessgym.com/2022/11/03/sleep
9 – Stay Motivated
Getting a workout in during the morning sounds unappealing if you’re a night owl or a late morning person, but studies have shown that the majority of the most wealthy and successful people in the world rise earlier and workout earlier than the average person. A morning workout can also set a positive tone for your day and keep your motivated to stay healthier throughout the day. Another way to keep your motivation energized is to set a new goal. Don’t wait until January 1st! Setting a goal and working to tackle it during the holidays is a great way to stay energized through the new year, and to stay successful when the New Years Resolution setters fail after a few weeks.
10 – Stress Management
Fitness isn’t just physical, it’s mental too, so having good tools to manage your stress will help you succeed in your workouts or your weight loss goals. It can be hard to manage our stress when there’s so much happening around us, when, for some, it can be a very depressing time of year, and financially a burned to others. One of the key things we recommend is getting enough sleep. 6 – 8 hours is recommended for an average adult and you can facilitate that by:
– avoiding technology 60 minutes before bed, even if that means leaving your phone in another room.
– taking a hot bath or shower before bed with Epsom salts or with lavender or chamomile scents.
– avoid caffeine and alcohol at least 3 hours before bed.
– avoid eating 2-3 hours before bed.
– meditating for at least 30 minutes.
11 – Build Support
We can not be successful in any area of our life if we don’t have a support system, and this is especially true in fitness and in weight loss. At Quest Fitness, we endeavor to make your fitness goal our fitness goals and work with you as a team. Why is this important? Everyone needs a coach who’s going to help push them through a workout that might be harder, or a cheerleader who’s going to motivate them when they’re not seeing the results they want fast enough. A personal trainer is a multifaceted role so we can best support each of our clients in a way that will make them thrive the best. So, when you’re navigating the holiday season, reach out to a friend or family member and ask them for their support to hold each other accountable with getting small workouts in or to help each other avoid binging on the all too delicious holiday foods.
12 – Recommitting
When the holidays are all said and done, and we’ve eaten our favorite foods, the key to having successfully survived the holidays is to recommit to your fitness goal. We don’t just mean reevaluating your goals in order to set new ones or check your progress on your current goals, which are very worth ways to recommit, but we mean by getting back into the gym and getting back to your cleaner eating. This might sound like the biggest drag of all the steps, but the reason you were able to look as fabulous as you did this holiday season, the reason you were able to eat the foods you loved, is because you put the work in the rest of the year. The trainers at Quest Fitness are always willing to help you review your meal plans an offer advise or are willing to help you review your fitness or weight loss goals, but that means coming back into the gym and getting ready to be the best version of yourself that you can be.
No Comments